Generation Tech, a French company that has developed a line of thermoformed disposable paint trays (or trays for kitty litter, cleaning products, crafts and paints and carryout trays) in packs of five to 10 liners that stick to each other without glue — and are thermoformed all at the same time.
The company can thermoform the very thin liners with a draw of 250 millimeters, or about 10 inches.
You can peel away one of the thin liners for use, and still have more left over, according to Raphael Caldas, technical director of the company in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris. When you're done, you crumple them up and dispose of them.
Generation Tech also sells the patented machinery technology to make the trays, which sell under the name Pull-Liners. At NPE 2015, the company exhibited in the French Pavilion.
During NPE, Generation Tech signed an agreement with thermoformer Lindar Corp., which will make the Pull-Liner in the United States, Canada and Mexico for do-it-yourself applications.
Generation Tech is selling the liners in five European countries. Caldas said about 80 percent of its business is to professionals in the building trades.
Caldas invented the Pull-Liner for a personal reason: He was renovating his house and got tired of traditional paint trays — too messy, he said.
The Pull-Liner won the award for thin-gauge part in the 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers' European Thermoforming Parts Competition. The company also has won awards in France, including one for being a big seller on a home shopping television network.
One year ago, Generation Tech opened a facility in Montreal called Generation Thermo Inc.
Tel. 011 33 6 73 47 17 91, email [email protected]
